Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Transportation to: (1) identify and institute demonstration projects to reduce mortality of such whales caused by ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear; and (2) develop a program by January 2003 to prevent such ship strikes through use of a vessel early warning system and a coordinated vessel management system; and (3) ensure Federal agency cooperation to meet the needs of the updated North Atlantic Right Whale Recovery Plan.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) create a technology program to detect and track such whales in critical habitat and along their migration routes during FY 2002 and 2003; and (2) incorporate specified data into a geographic information system for analysis of interactions between whales and ships.
Requires the Secretary of Transportation to identify any gaps in legislative authority preventing implementation of regulations affecting vessels in U.S. waters necessary to promote recovery of such whales. Authorizes such Secretary to propose regulations for adoption at the International Maritime Organization to further implement recommendations contained within the Recovery Plan.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) design a right whale research grant program; (2) continue discussions with Canada to coordinate whale programs; and (3) begin discussions with relevant organizations and nations for creating or amending agreements on management measures to reduce fishery interactions and for facilitating collection of information relevant to development of the priority action or recovery plan.
Requires a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report on actions and expenditures under the Recovery Plan, incidents of collisions and entanglements, preventive actions, recovery activity litigation, and demonstration project costs.